our blog is a big issue. north korea bares its teeth as it launches a room in a long range rocket and defiance of international warnings raising fears across the korean peninsula and beyond. president pollution is due to paint the prospects for the future of russia in his first annual address to lawmakers since returning to the planet. the western powers demands their support for syria's main opposition alliance as a friends of syria conference opens in moral code this comes after washington officially it throws its backing behind the rebel coalition.

new song russia and around the world this is our see with me thanks for joining us north korea says it has successfully placed a weather satellite into orbit the launch on wednesday was the second by the reclusive state this year attended in april shortly after liftoff the move by pyongyang immediately sent shock waves around the globe raising criticism from its neighbors with the south korea and japan reacted to the launch which talk is saying let's talk you saying it will not tolerate the actual washington called it provoked to counter any possible threats moscow says the launch will have a negative effect in the region and goes against a un resolution north korea is currently under sanctions on the banned from conducting missile and i think nuclear related deaths. will contain the ari says peace negotiations are the only solution. to our cause. it is to have

war not less talks and the north koreans have been willing to attend talks other nations have certainly russia has another nations are that have been involved in the six party talks japan south korea and united states are less willing to engage in talks when these things happen but what the un said was not only don't use ballistic missile technology it said we must have a commitment to a peaceful diplomatic and political solution to the situation there i'm afraid that the united states is going to step back talk less isolate more the military base that the united states brought merrily south korea's building one jesuit island in an effort to create a ring around china perhaps the deal with north korea are all setbacks to peace what's necessary i think at this point in time is not is to step back from the process and the outside countries the other countries around the world must say

wait a minute a peaceful china south korea north korea japan has a region will have a huge impact on world and i think it's really incumbent that we put pressures towards peace and not toward amping up the conflict anymore. and now it's time to is expected to lay out his strategy for modernizing russia tackling corruption and to boosting the country's international influence the president told a neighbor his address to lawmakers and for the first time since returning to the kremlin for an unprecedented six year term that's now got the details from us he's alex a get a chess game his aim kremlin in the kremlin aleksei hello there so what's this address all about and what can we expect to hear from place him well this kind of address can easily be compared to the state of the union address in the united states the most important statements coming in an annual address by the country's president just for example a couple years ago the former president. suggested a constitutional change during this. particular dress for

a longing of the presidential term in russia from four to six years so we are probably not expecting such a major statement this time and some of the statements have already been made public by the news i miss my guess at a few suggestions of what he's about to say he will of course talk about his strategy on dealing with the most important challenges and problems that russia has been facing also we understand that he will speak about the foreign policy issues in particular. to suggest that he will be criticizing the revolutions in the middle east and north africa as well as calling to increase russia's influence on the global arena definitely promised a lot during his election campaign and particularly in the articles he has published he had published and we are expecting to hear from him from him this time during this address a more detailed and more explanatory suggestions and strategy on how he is going to deal with all the problems that russia has been facing and also on the biggest

challenges ahead for person and russian national and international. just came to power again for the third time in the kremlin it's already been a very tough year i can only politically and socially and definitely russia is facing lots of different challenges on the economic level he is expected to talk about diversifying russia's economy because it has been very strongly reliant on the export of natural resources and putin is willing to change that on the a social level of course one of the most most important issues will be the demographic problem because the death rate is still higher than other birth rate despite some improvements in that area but certainly russia is losing lots of its people every year and it will be focusing on that as well as well as certainly the liberalization of the society and the mass protests which have been happening for the past year also and we're expecting to push into touch on that and on the foreign level today will be talking about reinforcing russia's borders with obviously a great amount of threat coming from the central asian states from afghanistan and this is one of the most important issues as well as soda. increasing russia's role

in the international arena as i said earlier and talking about the. revolutions in the middle east and north africa the address itself is especially to start in about one hour from now and r.t. will certainly be broadcasting it live to all of you with stay tuned if you want to know what it has to stop still a day and of course of the listening together with the next say to this state of the nation address and less than one hour actually here or not see. this go on this alex and sort of on that says russia u.s. relations are strained to political infighting in washington. i believe that it will be very difficult to come back to their recess out because as inherited from himself from his previous time in. a divided congress it still has a lot of so-called whole. will be quite aggressive and will be quite up in the opposition towards russia in its initiatives and we have seen

that recently a witness said during the so-called make me act it was passed by the congress and the president will have no other option is to side it into action. so with this new move and the russia promise to retaliate adequately i don't think that we can go to business as usual and we will see that the next four years of obama storm will be filled with tensions between russia and the united states. moving on now a top western the bard conference on syria meets on wednesday to boost support for the country's new opposition alliance the national coalition that comes after washington formally recognize them as the legitimate representative of the syrian people but as i see it again that stricken reports the world needs to keep its eyes

open to fighting on the ground. they call themselves martyrs. all those you see around you of the fighters you see are living martyrs and the living martyr has already sacrificed a soul for this country but syrian rebels say they will stop at nothing to defeat us sot. some of them are so proud of their deeds that they post them on the web including the execution of prisoners. or having a child behead a man who was presumably an assault supporter atrocities are committed on all fronts during syria's bloody civil war according to many accounts on the ground it's islamist groups that do most of the fighting on behalf of the rebels dr tatar we come meet was a member of a jihadi spoken ization twenty five years ago he later became a vocal opponent of radical islam that you have this have no problem to behead people alive you deal with people like bin ladin and there are because of al qaida

who have no he tahsin to use any form of whip around to to to really. control any place. religious believes and ideology representatives of opposition fighters came together in turkey last friday to form a unified command with the support of the so-called friends of syria including the gulf states the u.s. the u.k. and friends one of the delegates at the meeting says two thirds of the islamist dominated anti assad groups have ties to the muslim brotherhood and salafist people here in washington don't seem to understand that if you don't like the government in karo or if you do like the government in cairo i guess i should say then you will love the government the comes to power in damascus because you will see a sunni muslim islamised government a muslim brotherhood style government that is absolutely intolerant fundamentally hostile to the west washington has failed to officially denounce the many suicide

bombings perpetrated by the rebels in syria preferring to. focus on the wrongs committed by the assad regime alone the u.s. is also ramping up the rhetoric about the possibility of the assad government using chemical weapons against civilians something that damascus says would be suicidal on the other hand many rebels are not averse to the idea of suicide in the name of what they call holy war militants have recently taken control of a toxic chemical plant in the country's second city of aleppo a video was uploaded to youtube showing them testing chemical weapons on rabbits we could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage. you will die like these do rabbits despite supporting the anti assad forces the obama administration also recognizes that there are radical groups among the opposition in an attempt to distance themselves from extremists washington has designated one almost a terrorist organization it is thought to be one of the most aggressive and ruthless groups currently involved in the conflict it's seen as more of

a symbolic move on washington's part as many other rebel fighters in syria welcomed the efforts of those designated terrorists. this is a demonstration of support for in syria with people heard chanting we are students of osama. in its own words the assad government is fighting terrorists that battle has claimed thousands of innocent lives the measures the syrian government resorted to have been widely criticized but does that mean the wall should keep their eyes shocked at who's actually fighting for power in syria now in washington i'm going to check out. on and contributing editor at foreign policy in focus believes u.s. recognition of the rebel coalition will only push syria deeper into crisis. what it does is it opens the door now for much more direct intervention in the civil war it will mean

a heavy weapons will come in contention. even i think you could end up with a no fly zone it's really pretty much an open declaration of war against the outside regime one of the things that i think is difficult is trying to get really accurate reporting it seems as if they are sort of regime is sort of its back against the wall and yet at the same time it doesn't seem as if the opposition could really hold on to territory i mean this could be a long running thing this could go on for a couple of months i think the u.s. recognition here will accelerate the pressure on the ocelot regime this is just a terrible mess at this point and i think if it ends without a political resolution which is that's the direction it's heading it's heading into a military solution to what i think the ripples from this area going to go all over the middle east and they're going to be there for quite some time. just ahead for

you formally matters as person continues its austerity drive its numbers pensioners and others taking the brunt of the cuts this has. got a slap in the face from judges who turns the box in egypt's new constitution the government is looking for ways to secure their referendum and public poll all that's coming up after the break. the mighty volga that runs deep through the russian soul it has provided inspiration for songs and poems and is the country's main north south artery and decades ago schumann ingenuity connected it to the don't revert to the west the volga dawn canal is an engineering marvel within a day a vessel can pass the canals thirteen blocks ten million tons of shipping does so

every year. another concrete giant is this finished fifty years ago it's the biggest hydroelectric plant in europe it powers the local city of volgograd and sends lots more electricity to moscow the hydroelectric plant behind me is a potent example of how much the volga can provide but harnessing the river like this isn't without its cost. fishermen have been watching fish stocks for years they see the slow damage the downing of the river has done especially to russia's prized sturgeon the source of caviar. the hydroelectric plant has done significant damage because it stocked fish swimming up river to their spawning grounds. within a year all these houses would have gone fall into the river depending on how many of the hydroelectric plants turbines are on the water level can change suddenly and dramatically too suddenly for the banks to absorb. control of the river flow by the

plant has made building the bogus flood plain more attractive serious floods are less likely but the water that is put into the drains is taken away from the fish that need it now but lost the voice of the voters ecology might stop being could. be the first time in fifty years the rules will contain a point on maintaining biodiversity in the river we still have a chance to bring the volga back to life. meaning that the mighty volga is treated with the respect it deserves. culture is that so much about the taxpayers' money and it is a shame the pot people at area. this is the stated goal. of his informant bring in for justice. sometimes you see

a story and it seems so. you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. the news a secret laboratory to mccurry was able to build a new most sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tunes mission to teach creation why it should care about humans and. this is why you should care only on the dog. you're watching assays great to have you with as we move on egypt's vote on the new president abbas constitution is

a jeopardy after the majority of the country's judges refused to oversee the paul the decision to shun saturday's referendum costs down on that city to mysie it comes and they don't go in pro and anti-government demonstrations on the streets of the campus opponents of islamist president morsi have flatters the area outside his palace and breach security barricades the leader gave himself extensive new poll is last month but had to backtrack in the face of rising public anger however morsi has continued to push through the proposed constitution which which some critics say will erode civil liberties and turn egypt into an islamic dictatorship following events in cairo. the general assembly of the judges club announcing that they would be boycotting the referendum the problem is now he will actually man the polling stations this is met with scenes here in front the presidential palace protesters said referendum simply can't go ahead if the judge is going to be manning the polling stations there has been some talk in the last few weeks about

nor progressive stepping in to help in addition to being some individual judges who said that they will actually assist here at the protest they are absolutely convinced that the referendum will be a no simply because there has been such a large expression of dissent here on the streets with protests happening almost every single day in addition to the high six to society for example of the journalists striking and of course the judges there is just a few kilometers away here from the presidential palace a significant ronnie's in support of the president with tens of thousands of people brag of it saying that the constitution is the only way stability in this country saying yes to legitimacy and that really egypt must vote yes in this referendum to ensure a successful transition to democracy when the news broke of president mohamed morsi if you do use this new law. one thing i sold is the right to arrest protesters condemned this is basically egypt experiencing martial defeat here on the streets of cairo is that if unrest continues and there is significant violence the military will step in the news quite heavy handed tactics against the protesters and we will

see quite a lot of violence human rights groups that i understand can actually hear and human rights watch said it was a worrying sign giving me the truck history of the military the military of course where in power the president president mubarak stepped down and during that year and a half a transition we witnessed a lot of human rights violations by the army including the internationally condemned practice of civilians being tried to put a military court so we'll just have to see really what happens on something day in the upcoming weeks. granting the egyptian military more powers could lead to severe consequences says columnist and author eric margolis. i think it was a major mistake. above president morsi to do this to throw this into the hands of the army it's just what egypt asked most egyptians don't want more military rule it's dangerous soldiers him to calm simple problems because once

they get to use the power they often don't want to leave the younger gen the generals without the experience of disillusionment. to get over that sound good model of the nasuwt to power the rules for many years and he by the way remains still remains the most popular political figure in egypt in spite of all the disasters that have to watch so there are your all of the serious colonels and brigadier generals who resigned ourselves i might be another not. going to head straight to. expert analysis and footage of the unrest surrounding the worst crisis to grip egypt since last year's revolution. for you these. to replenish its depleted new national stockpile after gaza with an arms deal with washington to learn about the details of the contract on our website. was

a person making a shaky recovery from a double dip recession the government's promising steady economic growth for next year but critics say is the less fortunate are paying for that by having the benefits raided by a prime minister who is no friend of the family. reports. the brits have got it coming a raft of nips and tucks to tax some welfare that's going to see those with the least squeeze the most so while the treasury chief admits millionaires are about to get an average tax cut a very few one hundred thousand pounds per year for next april it's the less fortunate who bear the brunt of dealing with the u.k.'s ten billion pound welfare bill but the cuts will come in disguise take for example the new so-called bedroom tax tenants in council housing will get less than benefits if their state funded accommodation is deemed too big for some local authorities already say that could

push up to four thousand people into homelessness especially as they're already being squeezed with an increased cost of living that's making christmas tough in many households the government insists it needs to fix public finances and that means cuts among various with too little to spare the chancellor has really made the main target of his austerity the poorest family he's cutting the support received both for the working poor three tax credits and so on and also for the for those on able to work it's not just bedrooms being taxed but motherhood as well last week the chancellor announced that maternity pay would be capped meaning that pregnant women will be almost two hundred pounds worse off start. next year opposition labor m.p.'s have labelled it the mommy tax and an unprecedented raid on families and that softer those at the other end of the age scale were left reeling

this year from the granny tax leaving pensioners three hundred pounds out of pocket and a winter of worry ahead david cameron might have promised to be the best family friendly government ever but with friends like that who needs enemies and let's not try some other world news and brave venezuelan president hugo chavez has successfully undergone an operation to remove a cancerous tumor in her honor the leader will remain in cuba for the treatment they have been in recent tests showed the disease returned trust recently won the election and has vowed to return to work quickly however his supporters to his vice president nicolas maduro should his illness or force him from office. a gunman opened fire at a shopping center near the u.s. city of portland killing two people and wounding said before killing himself the suspect ran through the mall with an assault rifle reportedly wearing

a colorful our suit and hockey mask a police investigation is under way. u.s. public transport systems are being with it or do you recording devices to boost the security of passengers the multi-million dollar great is underway in several u.s. cities including san francisco and baltimore reporter michael burke says despite this seemingly good cause the new technology sparks all kinds of privacy concerns. privacy experts have different concerns that they went and went with other sorts of technologies that they were all familiar with and some that are in development such as racial recognition software g.p.s. devices and a number of other technologies on the market already are coming to market that there's going to lead us down. one step closer to track an individual the privacy law experts i spoke to said that this adds a different dimension it's one thing to be able to see someone moving around it's

a different thing to be able to hear what they're what they're say. and coming out of her shoulder break it's piece of out crosstalk in. the sun rises over what seems like and most forest but here in the new directions quite hundred kilometers north of light of all stalk as much of the world it's disappearing and accounts traffic great. bloggers both illegal and those finding ways to outsmart the system filing down the forests of the more skewed region for them profit goes well beyond the future of our planet and the result could be an ecological crisis the world wildlife fund for

nature makes regular trips to help local rangers do what little they can to stop the logging but it's not easy logger set up traps making them hard to reach in an already rough terrain and have mastered ways to jump through legal loopholes this is a nature reserve were only sanitary logging of disease trees is allowed according to law and not a single berry can be picked but loggers like this used their sanitary long implement it. absolutely healthy trees and sell the profitable timber over the border in china we are on the hunt for illegal loggers and it's not going to be easy to forests. and our chances are slim now for now we can stay in our dreams but as soon as we find tracks we'll have to drop our wheels and get out silently in order not to scare the off alexander someone has been a ranger for over twenty five years he can spend weeks at a time tracking a single group of loggers easier to work. with in autumn it's impossible to find

human tracks and even transport tracks are hard to see after hours of driving we get sent in the right direction by word of mouth you can see that the ground is soft here which means that the twelve the tractor trails are very fresh which means that we need to be quiet in order to not scare them off as we get closer. this team says they're illegal but have no documents now xander can now call the police to take over his work here is done overwhelmingly outnumbered there are too few rangers working in the region and the w w f a says the government isn't doing enough to stop it the government. of. the. forest and according to. the guys in the forest to still.

no one tries to stop them in just five years the force will be gone. to china what will the people who live afterwards do. it's a question more and more people are aware of today climate change in the safety of our environment as a whole are being discussed around the world and perhaps it's those small steps that might be a start to people living in harmony with nature. if you. want to. go and welcome the crosstown peter lavelle ending international impunity this is the stated goal of the i.c.c. the international criminal court but is it delivering impartial justice to the

world the court supporters say after a decade in existence it's too early to say its detractors claim the i.c.c. is racist and hypocritical as well as a tool of the great powers. to cross-talk the i.c.c. today i'm joined by lawrence douglas in chicopee he is a professor of law jurisprudence and social thought at emerson college in boston we cross to william kaler he is a professor of international relations and history at boston university and in new york we cross to george samuel he is a fellow of the global policy institute of london metropolitan university our gentleman crosstalk rules in effect lawrence if i go to you first is the i.c.c. delivering impartial justice to the world today i don't know if we can necessary say it's it's you know this is a fledgling institution which is still getting at sea legs we know that it's only delivered one.